“Literacy has always been about using the most powerful cultural tools available to make and communicate meaning. At the present, those tools happen to be multimedia tools that use video, graphics, sound, and traditional text in a hypermedia format. If we or our students don't know how to critically use these tools to their fullest meaning-constructive potential, then we—and they—are illiterate" (Wilhelm, 2000, p. 7).
Why should educators care about literacy?
“Seen any papyrus scrolls lately? . . . No? Guess why not? Theyused to be the very latest form of text, totally en vogue. Themost literate people used them. But guess what? The scrollwas supplanted—totally obliterated and replaced by a newkind of text: the medieval codex . . . . Been to the local librarylately? Seen any codices? No? Why not? Because a newtechnology came along that made the codex totally andutterly obsolete. Yes, Gutenberg’s printing press andGutenberg’s book created a completely new kind of writingspace—one that was more efficient and effective. So thecodex became history. And the scribes? They becameobsolete, too! Do you want that to happen to you—or to yourstudents?" (Wilhelm, 2000, pp. 5-6).
References
A.K., Gary. (2007, January 27). Old Papyrus Texts. Flickr. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/gak/371123091/ Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
Andrésmh. (2007, August 1). Mosaic. Flickr. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/11868850@N00/977432884 Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
Fazakas, Tibor. (2006, March 6). Digital camera 1. Stock Xchng. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/481103 Used under a royalty free, Stock.xchng 8.2 Image License Agreement.
Grey, Aldert. (2004, August 29). iPod 4G – backlight, earbuds. Stock Xchng. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/179756 Used under a royalty free, Stock.xchng 8.2 Image License Agreement.
Kosmopolitat. (2005, January 27). Sholes & Glidden Typewriter. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:S%26g1.jpg Used under a GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
Laszlo, Hohl. (2003, October 1). Hourglass Macro (Photo #58600). Stock.xchng. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/58600 Used under a royalty free, Stock.xchng 8.2 Image License Agreement.
Lucretious. (2007, April 20). Codex (Photo #787899). Stock.xchng. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/767899 Used under a royalty free, Stock.xchng 8.2 Image License Agreement.
Nulla, Brullo. (2007, January 1). 2006: Browse with NCSA Mosaic! Flickr. Retrieved November 23, 2007, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/brullonulla/364534022/ Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
Plumb, Andrew. (2006, April 1). Gutenberg Press 3. Flickr. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/81685076@N00/121285772 Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
Tonon, Paolo. (2006, April 1). Personal Computer. Flickr. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/44052773@N00/264278748 Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
Wesch, Michael. (2007, March 8). Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us Video - Final Version. YouTube. Retrieved May 3, 2007, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g
What does it mean to be literate?
“Literacy has always been about using the most powerful cultural tools available to make and communicate meaning. At the present, those tools happen to be multimedia tools that use video, graphics, sound, and traditional text in a hypermedia format. If we or our students don't know how to critically use these tools to their fullest meaning-constructive potential, then we—and they—are illiterate" (Wilhelm, 2000, p. 7).
Why should educators care about literacy?
“Seen any papyrus scrolls lately? . . . No? Guess why not? They used to be the very latest form of text, totally en vogue. The most literate people used them. But guess what? The scroll was supplanted—totally obliterated and replaced by a new kind of text: the medieval codex . . . . Been to the local library lately? Seen any codices? No? Why not? Because a new technology came along that made the codex totally and utterly obsolete. Yes, Gutenberg’s printing press and Gutenberg’s book created a completely new kind of writing space—one that was more efficient and effective. So the codex became history. And the scribes? They became obsolete, too! Do you want that to happen to you—or to your students?" (Wilhelm, 2000, pp. 5-6).
References
A.K., Gary. (2007, January 27). Old Papyrus Texts. Flickr. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/gak/371123091/ Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
Andrésmh. (2007, August 1). Mosaic. Flickr. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/11868850@N00/977432884 Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
Fazakas, Tibor. (2006, March 6). Digital camera 1. Stock Xchng. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/481103 Used under a royalty free, Stock.xchng 8.2 Image License Agreement.
Grey, Aldert. (2004, August 29). iPod 4G – backlight, earbuds. Stock Xchng. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/179756 Used under a royalty free, Stock.xchng 8.2 Image License Agreement.
Kendall, Cindy. (2007, November). Timeline of writing spaces through time. Retrieved March 12, 2008, from http://actfl-wonderfulwikis.wikispaces.com/Agenda Used with permission.
Kosmopolitat. (2005, January 27). Sholes & Glidden Typewriter. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:S%26g1.jpg Used under a GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
Laszlo, Hohl. (2003, October 1). Hourglass Macro (Photo #58600). Stock.xchng. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/58600 Used under a royalty free, Stock.xchng 8.2 Image License Agreement.
Lucretious. (2007, April 20). Codex (Photo #787899). Stock.xchng. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/767899 Used under a royalty free, Stock.xchng 8.2 Image License Agreement.
Nulla, Brullo. (2007, January 1). 2006: Browse with NCSA Mosaic! Flickr. Retrieved November 23, 2007, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/brullonulla/364534022/ Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
Plumb, Andrew. (2006, April 1). Gutenberg Press 3. Flickr. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/81685076@N00/121285772 Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
Matias, J. Nathan. (2006, August 30). Torah 6. Flickr. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/natematias/229735738/in/set-569899/ Used under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License.
Tonon, Paolo. (2006, April 1). Personal Computer. Flickr. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/44052773@N00/264278748 Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
Wesch, Michael. (2007, March 8). Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us Video - Final Version. YouTube. Retrieved May 3, 2007, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g
Wilhelm, Jeff. (2000, March). Literacy by design: Why is all this technology so important anyhow? Voices from the Middle, 7(3), pp. 4-14. Available: http://mwp.cla.umn.edu/techtraining/wilhelm.pdf